Puneet Varma (Editor)

The iSONEWS

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Available in
  
English

Website
  
www.theisonews.com

Created by
  
orm

Commercial
  
No

Type of site
  
Internet forum, a former Database

Slogan(s)
  
"Welcome to the scenes first and only ISO news page." (2000)

The iSONEWS was a warez news website. It was originally created by orm who later deferred management of the website to Krazy8 and mandarin. TheiSONews supplied release details and NFOs of warez games and programs, without actually supplying them, or supplying any information on where to find them.

Contents

Domain seizure

On February 28, 2003 the United States Department of Justice seized the isonews domain name, however its servers remained intact. A number of iSONEWS mirrors sprung up as a result, including izonews.com, theisonews.com, and stolemy.com, an expression of retaliation from the iSONEWS community caused by the Department of Justice's actions. The closure of the isonews.com domain brought more attention to the site, and after the site was back up on mirror sites, the membership and the user activity on the forums increased.

Approximately one year following the seizure, visitors to iSONEWS.com were redirected to the United States Department of Justice cybercrime.gov website. As of November 16, 2004, the original domain, isonews.com, is owned by DomainSpa LLC and used to advertise video game sales and rentals.

Current status

From being a release site for the warez community, the site has evolved into a broader message board, concentrating mostly on PC gaming. The PC games forum on the site contains everything from rumors, latest news, hints, tips and tweaks to various games.

After a considerable amount of downtime from February through early March 2009, Isonews went back online. Many of the moderators have created a competing version of the website named isoleeted.com due to many former member's dissatisfaction with Isonews' current operations.

On August 14, 2009 the domain was sold via auction for $500 (originally priced at $5,000). The new owner fixed the forum registration and it is continuing to provide updates and support for the website and community.

In 2013, an interactive chat box was added to the site. This has succeeded in keeping iSONEWS on life support with members chatting more frequently than they otherwise would within the forums.

References

The iSONEWS Wikipedia